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Web Extra: Visions of Havana

Jan 01st 2012

About: Tommy Morrison

Age: 30

Residence: West Palm Beach

Bio: The son of Palm Beacher Carlos Morrison studied photography at Rochester Institute of Technology and briefly worked with legendary French fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier in New York City. Tommy put down his camera for several years following the December 2003 death of uncle Pedro, the renowned Palm Beach polo patron, and worked with his father in the family’s commercial real estate and investment business. (Editor’s note: Carlos and Pedro, adopted twins, were heirs to the Fisher Body automotive empire.)

Why Cuba? Having established himself as a premier collector of classic 20th century and contemporary photography, Tommy decided it was time to once again capture his own images. Last June, he and girlfriend Sarah Scheffer traveled to Havana with a Miami-based tour outfit and weeklong visas for the sole purpose of shooting photographs. Tommy and Sarah were escorted around Havana by internationally hailed Cuban artist Kadir López Nieves, who gave them an insider’s view of Havana. “I’ve been in the bush in Tanzania; I’ve traveled to Vietnam and Hong Kong; I’ve been all over Europe—I even lived in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand at age 15,” he says. “Cuba was the one place I had always wanted to go. Because of this trip, I feel energetic again about taking photos.”

Photos for purchase: Anyone interested in purchasing images from Tommy’s trip to Cuba can reach the photographer at tjm222@me.com. He will donate all proceeds from sales to the Palm Beach Photographic Centre (workshop.org), which exhibited a collection of his Cuba pictures last November.

“This was our waiter; he was such a nice man. He made an incredible drink with fresh, ground sugar cane—and all this rum. Kind of like a mojito.”

“This, to me, represents the community spirit you find in Cuba. The people are all happy to work together.”